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KISW has a long history in Seattle with the slogan "Seattle's Best Rock". Over the years the station has employed on-air hosts including Bob Rivers, Crow and West, Robin and Maynard, Steve Slaton and others. KISW's license is held by Entercom, who operates four stations in the Seattle metropolitan area.

KISW commenced broadcasting on January 18, 1950.[2] KISW played classical music under the tutelage of its founder and first owner, Ellwood W. Lippincott (1904–1977). From 1954 to 1956, the station was managed by Harvey Manning.[3]

In 1969, the station was purchased by Kaye-Smith, a partnership of famed entertainer Danny Kaye and Lester Smith. At that time Kaye-Smith were also the owners of the number one pop music station in Seattle, KJR.[4] By 1971, KISW had switched to a progressive rock (or "underground") format pioneered by Tom Donahue at KMPX and KSAN in San Francisco.[5]

KISW was not the first commercial station in the Seattle/Tacoma market to experiment with rock and roll programming on the FM radio dial - KOL had already accomplished some success with their AM (1300 kHz) and FM (94.1 MHz) frequencies.

In 1991, as an April Fool's prank, the radio station changed their format to soft rock for a day.[6]

Ellwood W. Lippincott 1950-1969 - Ellwood W. Lippincott founded KISW. He was a resident of Centralia, Washington, and worked as an electrical engineer for Weyerhaeuser. During the week, Lippincott's job required him to travel about 3,200 miles a month maintaining Weyerhaeuser's radio equipment from the Canada–US border to southern Oregon. Lippincott would spend his weekends managing the station.[9] KISW was his labor of love. Under Lippincott's ownership, KISW operated out of a small studio on the northwest corner of NE 92nd Street and Roosevelt Way NE in north Seattle. The building was demolished and replaced with townhouses in 2007.

Nationwide Communications, Inc. 1987–1996 - A subsidiary of the Nationwide Insurance Company, Nationwide Communications originally established itself in the Radio business in 1947. Nationwide had sold off its radio stations by 1997.

Entercom Communications Co. 1996–presentEntercom is the 4th largest radio broadcasting company in the United States. Entercom operates four stations in Seattle and is the market's leading operator in terms of revenue. Data from the Arbitron ratings company shows that the Entercom's Seattle holdings regularly draw more than 20% of all radio listening in the Seattle/Tacoma market.

In 2007, the station was nominated for the Radio & Records magazineActive Rock station of the year award in a top 25 market. Other nominees included WIYY in Baltimore, WAAF in Boston, KBPI in Denver, WRIF in Detroit, and WMMR in Philadelphia.[10] Nominated for a RadioContraband Rock Radio Award for "Major Market Radio Station of the Year" 2012

KISW was inducted into the Rock Radio Hall of Fame in the "Heritage Rock Radio Stations-Still Rocking" in 2014.[citation needed]